With the information processing systems, such as servers, data bases and personal computers known from the prior art, data files, such as documents or control program files and the like, also referred to as records, are either stored directly in the data memory according to a specific file structure and with a unique file name, or they are stored in a structured manner in folders with a unique folder name. Generally a user is free to select the name of the data file and/or the name of a folder within the bounds imposed by the information system.
In a business environment, a user will store data files in the form of a folder structure based on departmental or organisational attributes, for example. In this way a folder structure as known per se comprising a number of subfolders is obtained, which subfolders can in turn be subdivided into further subfolders, in which the respective data file is eventually stored.
As in many cases a user can choose the names of folders and subfolders and the names of data files himself, it is generally difficult for other users to store a respective data file within a suitable folder or retrieve a data file from the data memory. Not only for other users, but also for the user who set up and arranged the folder structure and who gave names to the files and folders and subfolders it is often difficult to store a data file having a specific information content in the data memory and retrieve it therefrom, in particular if an extensive folder structure is used in which a relatively large number of data files are stored. This is because the known manner of storing data files in a data memory is based on the files being located in folders and subfolders and on the location the document is given or has been given within a hierarchic folder structure.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,412 a method and a system for retrieving stored documents are known wherein so-called meta attributes are created from the information content of a set of stored documents.
These meta attributes comprise a set of topic profiles, each topic profile defining a relationship between a topic and the documents or files relating thereto, together with document surrogates and a list of distinguishing terms.
The meta attributes can be searched on the basis of a user-defined search criterion for the purpose of retrieving a respective document or respective documents. These meta attributes are essentially a summary of the documents and take up less storage space than the original document itself, whilst they can be searched more quickly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,090 likewise discloses a technique for selecting and arranging documents or data files from a data memory on the basis of a search criterion, which technique is based on the use of meta attributes associated with a document or a data file.
Although the retrieval of documents or data files can be facilitated in this manner, the known techniques do no provide a solution to the problem of obtaining a more structured manner of storing data files.
Accordingly, it is a first object of the invention to provide a solution to the technical problem of storing data files, such as digital documents and program files, in a data memory, such as a digital data memory of an information processing system, in such a manner that storage of a respective data file can take place more easily and more quickly, substantially independently of a respective user. All this in such a manner that a well-defined storage structure is provided, also at departmental or company level, which is transparent and accessible to different users and which eventually also leads to an easier and quicker retrieval of data files as well.